IMPaL: proposta di un metodo di rapid assessment per la definizione della qualità paesaggistica delle lanche fluviali.

Riverine wetlands originate from the abandoned side arms of rivers within floodplains; those caused when meanders are cut off, are called oxbow lakes. Such ecotonal systems are important from ecological, hydrological and landscape points of view. The Cariplo Foundation has funded a project for the environmental restoration of wetlands around Pavia (Lombardy, Italy), through which we developed a new rapid assessment tool to compare and classify these biotopes. For the purpose of analysis, the bank is divided into segments according to the uniformity of its landscape characteristics. For each segment, our assessment tool analyzes some aspects which define the typical morpho-ecological features of wetlands, such as the vegetation area around the water (divided in to two parts: proximal and distal), the amphibian belt, and riparian habitats. For each of these macro-indicators, we identified indicators and their descriptors, and assigned a score from 0 to 10, divided into 5 intervals. The indicators were then weighted appropriately to give an overall score classifying each wetland between 0 and 10. We also defined five quality classes associated to the color scale commonly used for environmental quality indices. For each wetland, it is possible to obtain an overall evaluation, weighting the score of the different segments according to their length. This morpho-landscape index, called IMPaL, has been applied to eleven riverine wetlands, and it will be further validated by different operators on other similar biotopes.